


Some Things Are Best Left Forgotten

by LaLlorona



Category: Monster High
Genre: Angst, Backstory, Bullying, Gen, It's like barely there but it's there ya know, Minor Character Death, Some Humor, Swearing, mild homophobia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-30
Updated: 2020-07-30
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:54:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,935
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25601680
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LaLlorona/pseuds/LaLlorona
Summary: Neighhan Rot decides to open free therapy sessions to both help himself gain experience as a therapist and to help any classmate in need. A certain normie boy pays a visit, and Neighthan learns why a human transferred to Monster High in the first place.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 75





	Some Things Are Best Left Forgotten

“So you’re just letting students have free therapy sessions?”

“Yep.”

“No payment required? You don’t want me to do your homework in return or anything?”

“Nope. I just figured that students sometimes need to let their feelings out. Headmistress Bloodgood let me borrow this spare room to set up my stuff.”

“That’s actually really nice of you.” Jackson finds himself relaxing a little knowing that he won’t owe Neighthan anything for this session he booked. Just last week, the hybrid monster opened up free therapy sessions to schedule so that the students can get the help they need without the worry of not being able to afford it. Neighthan is aware that he’s not a professional or anything, but helping Cleo and Toralei sparked this passion to become a real therapist after he graduates. This is essentially meant to be a practice of sorts.

The residential Normie was a bit worried about booking an appointment. He never really met Nathan before, and he was worried that his half human gene would scare away the zombie...unicorn...guy.

“I’m sorry if this is personal, but did your zombie dad just...marry a horse or-,”

“I could change my mind and have to do my homework for a week.”

“Right, right, I’ll just not worry about that then”

“Alright, so what brings you here, Jackson?”

“Um, a lot of things really.” He’s not exactly comfortable with telling his inner turmoils with a student he barely knows, but he did sign up for it. There’s no backing out now. “I, uh, I tend to get picked on a lot. It’s because I’m literally the only Normie in a school full of monsters, so I tend to stick out. I mean, I am half monster technically, but that part of me is locked away in my head while I’m out and about.”

“Oh right, cause Holt is like your other personality,” Neighthan comments as he writes down some notes. “Man, he’s so cool! He’s literally the highlight of any part I’ve been to. I remember this one time when he dived off the stage and...and, um.” He stutters a little when he notices Jackson’s unamused. He coughs and picks his notebook up from his lap. “So how severe is the bullying?”

Jackson rolls his eyes, but he doesn’t comment on the fact that even the student therapist thinks his monster half is cooler. “It’s normally other monsters making fun of me and telling me that I don’t belong here. Then there are the times where I actually get physically bullied, mainly by Manny.”

“The buff, bull guy?”

“That’s him.”

Neighthan grimaces. “Yikes, I’d hate to get stuffed in a locker by that guy.”

“It’s roomier than you’d think.”

“Seriously?”

“No.”

Neighthan takes a quick second to write “uses sarcasm to cope,” in his notes. “Uh Huh, so have you tried ways to avoid these monsters, specifically Manny?”

“God, I’ve tried everything! No matter where I hide there’s always someone who finds me and picks on me! I even skipped school to avoid the bullying, but I still got messages from Toralei saying how much of a wuss I was for doing that!...I still don’t know how she got my number.”

“Have you considered telling the teachers?”

“The teachers did give Manny detention once. The day after, I nearly got a black eye from him for ‘tattle telling.’”

Neighthan sighs and rubs his temple. It’s disheartening to know that even the most welcoming school still has bullying problems. “Look, I know what it’s like to be bullied for being different. It was awful, and I wanted nothing but to just disappear. But no matter how bad things got, I always had my friends to stick by and be the light in such dark times. Do you have anyone like that here?”

“Well yeah, Deuce was literally the first friend I made here. And Frankie was always such a kind person. Things are a little awkward between us now, but even then she never stopped being nice to me. Don’t get me wrong, they’re wonderful and I’m glad to have them as my friends. It’s just that having friends won’t make the bullying go away. Trust me, the same thing happened at my old school before it burned down.”

“What do you mean?” Neighthan sits up straighter, having had his interest piqued.

Jackson realizes what he said. “N-nothing! It’s nothing. There’s no reason to bring up the past.”

“It doesn’t sound like nothing.”

“It’s just the same shit that still happens here, I swear there’s nothing important about my old school.” Jackson is sure getting very agitated and defensive over what he says is nothing.

“Hm...Jackson look, I don’t want to force you to talk about something you don’t want to, but if there’s something about your old school that you’ve been hiding, maybe talking will do you some good. I promise that nothing you say will leave this room.”

“...You promise?”

Neighthan leans forward and sticks out his pinkie finger, which Jackson only stares at. “Seriously?”

“Come on, just accept the pinkie.”

“Don’t word it like that.”

“Dude-,”

“Ok, fine!”

With a satisfied smile, Neigthan leans back. “Alright Jackson, what happened at your old school?”

________________________________

Being a freshman can be hell. Being the new kid also sucks. Being both at the same time is like asking to have your head dunked into the toilet. At least that’s what it’s been like for Jackson Jekyll. He’s a normal kid with a normal life going to a normal school with other normal kids. He can just pretend that his imaginary friend that he’s had since he was a kid isn’t actually just a different personality living inside of him.

He learned this the first, and only time, Holt popped out. It was early summer, Jackson passed by a birthday party that was playing heavy music. The next thing he knows, he wakes up in the middle of an alleyway with a stick n poke tattoo of a music note on his wrist. One panicked walk home, he explained the situation to his parents who in turn explained that Holt, the blue fucker who Jackson thought was nothing but a vivid as hell imaginary friend, is actually an alternate personality that was a genetic thing passed down from his great grandfather...That was an interesting summer vacation.

Now Jackson has to live his life avoiding loud and fast paced music just so his other side doesn’t come out. It is surprisingly difficult. The pep assemblies definitely didn’t help with the matter. He often skipped those and would spend time on his phone in the boys bathroom. That was where he met Hayden Lanyon.

“Was he the friend that helped you get through the bullying?” Neighthan has ditched the love seat and is now next to Jackson on the long couch. Don’t judge him, he’s intrigued.

“Yeah, he was annoying as hell, but he always included me in any dumb idea he had.” Jacskon smiles fondly at the memories the two had together.

“What are you doing here?”

Jackson looks up and notices from the mirror in front of him a boy leaning against a stall door. His hair was a mop of messy curls, and he had such intense bright, blue eyes. The kinds that look like they could stare into your soul, and yet girls would fawn over them.

Jackson stammers out an excuse “I-I don’t like loud music.”

“Yeah me neither.” The student walks over and stands in front of the sink next to Jackson. “What’s worse is that the band can’t play for shit.”

“Yeah well I wouldn’t know. I never heard them play.”

“Not even in science class where you can clearly hear the trumpet player butcher Bohemian Rhapsody?”

“Is that what he was trying to play?!”

“Yeah,” the guy answers back with a chuckle.

“I just kind of thought he was messing around or something!”

“Nah man, he may be tone deaf, but you can sort of make out the, ‘easy come, easy go, will you let me go.”

“I feel like you’re just making that up.”

“I’m not!”

“There’s no way that’s Bohemian Rhapsody!”

Jackson finds himself shocked just how easy it is to talk to this guy. It’s only been a minute and the two are already joking about the crappy band. When they finally calm down from their laughing fit, the student offers his hand. “I’m Hayden by the way.”

“Jackson,” he replies as he shakes the hand.

“Yeah I know. You’re kind of popular for being the new kid.”

“Last I remember, being popular doesn’t end with you getting locked in the janitor’s closet.”

“Right, I guess popular isn’t the right word.” Hayden rubs the back of his neck. He needs to change the subject fast cause things are growing depressing real quick. “You wanna get out of here?”

“Huh?”

“This pep rally sucks, and we’re only gonna have like ten minutes of school left for the day. Let’s just ditch.”

Jackson actually considers the idea for a minute before shaking his head. “I can’t.”

“What’s wrong, afraid of getting caught?

“I mean...yeah.

“Please, the worst that will happen is that you’ll get detention the next day. Oh no, spending a whole hour after school, how scary! Hell, since it’ll be the first time getting in trouble, you’ll probably just get a slap on the wrist.”

Feeling a bit defensive, Jackson replies with, “what makes you think I haven’t gotten in trouble before?” Even he’s aware of how convincing he sounded.

Hayden smirks and leans closer, too close for comfort. “Really? Well then you must be a pro troublemaker. Come on, let’s go.” He wraps an arm around Jackson’s shoulders. “W-wait, what?’

“We’re ditching.”

“B-but-,”

“You’re clearly not afraid of getting in trouble, right?”

“Nnnnnnoooo?”

“Then let’s go!”

Hayden drags Jackson along as the two leave the bathroom and escape through the cafeteria doors. All the while, Jackson wonders if he has made a huge mistake befriending such a strange guy.

______________________

Of all the places they could have gone to, Jackson was definitely not expecting a junkyard. Hayden had Jackson go through a couple of subway rides and a long ass walk just to go to a junkyard?! As Jackson questions his decisions, Hayden digs through a small pile and pulls out a bat of all things. “Help me find some glass bottles, or anything glass.”

“Uh, alright.” Jackson starts looking around and will line up the bottles he finds on top of a moldy table. “So why are we here?”

“I just like to hang out here to clear my head. Nobody shows up, It’s far away from the noisy city, and I can sometimes bring free souvenirs.”

“That’s gross.”

“Maybe to you, but the trash here is my treasure,” he proudly responds while taking a couple of practice swings.

Jackson has to stop himself from letting his eyes roll all the way to the back of his head. With the table basically covered with bottles, Hayden motions for Jackson to back away. Getting the idea, Jackson puts a good distance between him and the table. He even hides behind a ripped up couch for protection.

Hayden lets out a heavy breath. He slowly raises the bat above his head before smashing it onto the bottles! Shards of broken glass fly in different directions, making Jackson glad he found a shield. Hayden was just lucky to have none of the shards cut him. He’s actually laughing his heart out from this rush of adrenaline. “Hey kid, you wanna try?”

Jackson pops up from behind the couch. “Just smash some bottles with a bat?”

“Yeah, it’s actually a lot of fun! It helps with some of the stress I get from school.”

“Really?” Jackson questions, making his way to Hayden. “Does it actually help?”

“Yeah! I mean, it helps me at least. You know when you get so mad that you feel the need to hit something?”

“Yep.”

“Well it’s like that except I’m not really hurting anyone or anything important.” He hands the bat to Jackson. “I know you get picked on a lot, and that’s bound to build a lot of stress and anger. Let it all out, right here.”

Jackson looks at the bat before glancing back up. “I’m not sure about this.”

“Come on. Here, I’ll set up the bottles.” Hayden scrambles around to find any bottles that have yet to be smashed. Jackson is still not so sure about this. He’s been told how violence isn’t good, being angry is bad, just bottle up every negative emotion into a pretty little bottle and store it away and never acknowledge it ever. Well that last part was a conclusion Jackson has come to after years of being told to stay calm and not cause trouble in school.

“Alright buddy, ready when you are!”

Jackson snaps out of his thoughts. The bottles are set up neatly on the table. Once again, he’s starting to regret his choices. Smashing a bunch of bottles won’t just make things better. Everything will stay awful.

He walks towards the table.

It’s not like the bullying will stop. He still won’t have friends. The stupid monster living inside of him will still be a fucking nusicence for god knows how long.

Tightening his grip on the bat, Jackson takes a swing, and another, and another. Even when all of the bottles are broken, he doesnt stop until the table itself is bent. Once that is done, he chucks the bat and is left panting, tired from the only amount of exercise he’s done in a while. Hayden stares in awe. “Damn, didn’t think you had that in ya.”

Jackson doesn’t answer. He just walks to the couch and plops on there. Hayden awkwardly stands there for a bit before joining his little buddy. “You good?”

“No? Yes...I don’t know.”

“...You wanna talk about some things or-,”

“I just want to take a nap.”

“Uh, that works too. That was actually pretty intense, but I’m impressed! You have this, like, fiery passion inside!”

“Don’t say fiery.”

Hayden ignores him and continues. “You’re actually pretty cool, Jackson.”

Well that’s not what Jackson expected to hear from a classmate. “Really?” there has to be a joke somewhere.

“Yeah! I won’t lie, I kind of thought you were another lame nerd, but I like you. You’re funny as hell and clearly pretty badass if that poor table has anything to say.”

Jackson can feel his face warm up at the compliments. He burns up once Hayden wraps an arm around his shoulders. “My friends are gonna love ya!”

Jackson smiles. Maybe freshman year won’t be so bad with Hayden by his side.

_______________________________

“It still sucked. All of his friends hated me.”

“Wait really? You didn’t click with any of them?”

“I mean, I tried. They constantly picked on me, and what’s worse was that they pretended to be nice to me anytime Hayden was around.”

“So he didn’t know how his friends treated you?”

“Nope, never did. In hindsight I probably should have said something, but I was worried that he’d end up picking his friends over me if I did speak up. He knew them longer, and he would've thought that I was making all that shit up.”

Neighthan taps his pen on his notebook, thinking. “What did his friends do to you? If you don’t mind me asking.”

“Pretty much the same things that still happen to me now. I tried to avoid them as much as possible so that it was just me and Hayden.”

“Hmmm...How about you talk about the more fonder memories with him?”

__________________________________

“Prom?”

Hayden is skipping stones by a lake. “Yeah, we should go.”

A now flustered Jackson has been sitting by Hayden doing homework. “Like...together?!”

“Yeah! It’ll be fun. We can dance, drink spiked punch, steal the king and queen crown for ourselves-,”

“Ok ok, but we’re not even old enough to be able to go to prom.”

“Easy, we sneak in.”

“Seriously?”

“Hell yeah I’m serious!” He scoots closer to Jackson and takes his hands. “Prom is literally the only thing people look forward to in this shitty school. We need to take this opportunity to have the night of our lives before I leave this dump!”

Jackson was coming around to this idea, and Hayden’s bright, handsome smile was swaying him a little, but then he caught on to that last part of the sentence. He pulled his hands away from his friend’s. “Wait, you’re leaving.”

Hayden’s smile drops. “Uh..yeah.”

“When, and why didn’t you tell me?”

“I was going to! I swear I was, but I-I couldn’t. Just the idea of seeing you upset was enough to chicken out.”

“Alright, I get it, but I still wish you said something earlier...so when are you moving?”

“Literally the night after prom.”

“Seriously?! That’s just next week!”

“I know, and I know that’s way too soon, but that’s why I want to go to prom with you!”

Jackson knows Hayden didn’t mean that in a way he hoped it did, but the phasing was enough to make his face burn red. Though the news of his only friend moving is still crushing him like a boulder. “Hayden-,”

“Nope! No tearful goodbyes. Not yet at least. We’re going to prom together, and we’re going to have one hell of a night!”

“Can’t we just stay home and play video games like we normally do?”

“Why Jackson Ryan Jekyll!”

“That's not my middle-,”

“How dare you not care enough about me to spend my last night with you at some super dope party where all the cool kids will be at?!” He dramatically sighs and lays on the grass. “Don’t even look at me right now!” He rolls onto his belly and just kind of faces the ground. Jackson rolls eyes, but he can’t help but smile. As much as he’d love to go, there’s still one huge problem: the music. He’s done a good job hiding Holt from Hayden, but there have been a few too many close calls. Jackson doesn’t want the prom of all things to ruin everything. However, there is a solution. “If you stop acting like an idiot then I’ll go.”

Hayden immediately turns back around and sits up. “Well lucky for you, I am the smartest man alive. Einstein has nothing on me!”

“One condition though.”

“What?”

“I get to bring my headphones and listen to my own music cause I’m not going to listen to whatever shit they’re going to play.”

“Honestly fair enough.” He stands up and dusts off the grass on his pants before reaching his hand out. “Alright buddy, one last adventure?”

Jackson gives his friend, his only friend, the one person who has shown him kindness and friendship, a sad smile as he takes his hand. “One last adventure.”

A solid minute passes with Jackson saying nothing. He’s just sitting there staring mournfully at nothing. Neighthan grows concerned and waves a hand in front of Jackson to get his attention. “Hey, you good?”

Jackson blinks and snaps back to reality. “Right sorry, what was the question?”

“What happened at prom?”

Jackson doesn’t answer right away. Neigthan was about to get the normie’s attention again when he finally answered. “His friends were there.”

“Hayden’s friends?”

“Yes.”

“Oh boy, so what did they do?”

The memory invades Jackson’s mind. The bright lights flashing and pounding, the large crowds of people huddled together, and most importantly, the loud, high energy music that was muffled by the headphones he wore that night. After slowly coming out of his shell, Jackson was actually enjoying himself. Despite not being able to hear the music well, he danced with Hayden like there was no tomorrow. In a sense, there wasn’t going to be a tomorrow. At least not one with his best friend around. It was wonderful until Hayden’s buddies showed up.

“They picked on me again, but they actually started insulting Hayden too saying how weird it was for two guys to go to prom together. I remember how hurt he looked. I knew they were assholes, but Hayden actually liked them, trusted them. Then they turn around and make fun of him for dancing with me. I didn’t want his last night to end horribly, so I actually stood up for him.”

“And then what happened?”

“I ended up punching one of them, they fought back, it was a mess...and then one of them took my headphones. In a matter of seconds I blacked out.”

Neighthan doesn’t say anything. There’s this pressure on his chest, a sense that something bad is coming. He let’s Jackson continue. “I eventually woke up, and the entire gym was on fire. I remember some part of my clothes being burnt, but I was completely fine. I couldn’t say the same for...for the others.”

“Others?”

“The bodies, his friends, Hayden’s friends. They were unrecognizable by that point, but I knew it was them.” Jackson looks down at his shaking hands. There was fear in his eyes. “I didn’t know how to feel, what to think. It was like I was watching some movie. When I went outside I realized that it wasn’t just the gym. The whole school was on fire. There were firefighters trying to put the flames out and ambulances carrying injured students away...I just went home. I hoped that if I went to bed and woke up then it was all a nightmare. I’d go to school the next day and tell Hayden about it. He’d laugh it off and say something stupid about it to cheer me up…”

Neightan taps his foot as he tries to bring up a question. “What happened to Hayden?”

“...His funeral was the week after it all happened.” Jackson finally breaks down, letting the tears that were building up flow out. Neigthan was quick to sit by and comfort him. They stay like that until Jackson calms down. He sits up straight, her eyes are red, and he now has a major headache from crying so much. “Yeah, I uh...Well I transferred to Monster High for sophomore year, and here I am. And despite all that, nothing’s changed. It’s like I hit the reset button, and I’m starting this journey all over again in a different school.”

“Oh come on, you know that’s not true.”

Jackson gives him a skeptical look. Neightan tries to give him a reassuring smile in return. “I’m being serious, man. I mean, you’re coming here to talk about your issues. That’s a good step already.” Again, Jackson just gives him a look. “I don’t see how just talking helps.”

“Believe me, it does. Look, what happened that night. It was tragic. And if I’m being honest, you need to see someone who’s an actual professional.”

“So you’re saying I’m too broken for you?”

“No! Not at all! I’m just not qualified to help you with your trauma, but that doesn't mean you’re too broken. It just means you deserve to find the right person who can give you the proper help you need. But I’m serious when I say that coming here was the right step. You’re already making progress, and I’m proud.” He places a gentle hand on the other’s shoulder. “And if you ever simply need a friend, I’ll be here.”

Jackson almost wants to cry again, but he’s drained. Instead he gives Neigthan a tired smile. “Thanks.”

“Anytime.”

**Author's Note:**

> Alright gang, first Monster High fiiiiiic! I've had this backstory for Jackson in my head, and I wanted to share it with the world so that you too can attack me with "how dare you do this to my son" comments. For real though, I hoped you enjoyed the story cause I actually spent like a good while writing it.


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